Lovescape Novels, an art
project exploring the wide 'invisible world' of the landscape of love in which
unfolds the light of civilization

The
Ice Age Challenge

Room 2

(Voume 2a) of the
series of novels, The Lodging for the Rose,
a literary art
project exploring the wide landscape of love
by Rolf A. F. Witzsche

Painting a living garden of
the
invisible shapes
that
shape
us

Ice
Age cycles
versus 'fairy dust' cycles

This challenge was imposed on me. The second book had originally been written and
completed under the tile, Roses at Dawn. But on the day when the files were
ready to be sent to the printer the computer crashed and much of the work
was lost. It was as if a schoolteacher had looked at the work and said,
"that's nice dear, but you can do better than that," and then
had ripped the work up.

It seemed that I was told that something had been missing. In the
process of searching, as if the words had been spoken, the dimension of the
Ice Age came to mind. The thought came like another shock. Wasn't the
world threatened by manmade global warming?

In following the 'hint' and looking behind the scene it
became apparent that app. 20,000 scientists from across the world had put
their name to petitions and declarations in opposition to what came to
light as a scientific
fraud in a scale that it threatened the future of mankind in the name of protecting the
future. According to evidence, the global-warming scientific fraud
challenges the very foundation of love
that has little validity if it fails to reach forward with the kind of care that
uplifts and protects generations yet unborn. How small is our love
then if it doesn't
stray beyond our little concern to protect the future when the future
is threatened with lies?

On its long journey mankind has traversed twenty ice ages which were regularly interrupted by brief warm
periods of 10-12 thousand years in duration of which the current one is about to
end, in which our
high-level civilization developed. While the technologies exist in
principle in
today's world, for deriving the bulk of the world's needed food resources from indoor
facilities, our love hasn't 'ripened' yet to the point of even considering
such a hige challenge on
which the future of mankind depends. It seems to be so much easier to
simply dream the dream of global warming and to close ones eyes to the
damage that the dream is set up to cause in the name of protecting empires
for private profit.

Of all the great men in history the musical genius, Johannes Brahms,
exemplified perhaps more than anyone this hidden challenge that we face
today, to let our love as human beings 'ripen' and encompass an ever wider
field. Brahms is said to
have been in love with his best friend's wife, Clara Schumann. But even
after his friend died, his love for Clara never ripened into marriage. Countless amateur and professional psychologists and psychiatrists have
since then probed the love-life of Johannes Brahms with gushing theories
about what the barriers might have been, but nobody will
ever really know what had really shaped the course of their love affair. Love seems to falls outside
the
sphere of psychological exploration. It might
have been Brahms' self-acknowledged failure in the development of his love that is reflected
in their love affair, the same failure that is also reflected in his
last symphony. Scholars say that his fourth symphony was his fare-well
gift to the world, a musical statement celebrating a full life as it were, which nevertheless
reflects an unfulfilled wanting. They say it seems to reflect in this
context the climate of the alpine region where
the symphony was composed, of which
Brahms had said himself that the cherries never really get ripe there.

Will this be the future of mankind in respect to its love? Will
mankind's love never become fully ripe
before the curtain falls upon it?

The new novel opens with a brief look at this type of
challenge by which psychiatrists are quickly frustrated as they are forced
to deal with
the challenges of a widening love, a kind of love that the professional man finally
steps away from, leaving behind his years of experience, resorting to taking the
protagonist to the art scene of a great sculpture gallery. There he notes
that the artists of the world don't live in small houses like "we" tend to do,
but live in huge mansions with large windows to the world, as we all should
.

The rest of the novel unfolds over the course of a peace-conference
workshop, organized not by politicians but by the youth of the world that
has a real stake in the future. It is staged in a small city in Russia
with a Japanese sounding name, located at the shore of the Black Sea. Here
a rich multifaceted lovescape unfolds with vistas that are marked by the youthful
daring to reach for freedoms in love that seem attainable, but which
unfortunately never really ripen
under the chill of the lingering traditions of self-imposed barriers.

The lovescape begins with a scene of a silent communication between the
protagonist and a woman. The scene later unfolds into a real conversation about love
dreams that all seem to come true, but which almost imperceptivity trail out
into the grey mud of a colourless landscape. These dreams are found in
many dimensions, in the shape of personal dreams of love, and religious
dreams, even political dreams of love, and the dreams of civilizations.

While Johannes Brahms is not mentioned in the novel, he stands in the
center. His name is recognized in the world for his achievements that have
enriched the musical culture of mankind for all times to come. And so we
must recognize all the achievements that contribute to the colors of the
landscape of love, even if the tallest dreams remain as but dreams.

On this platform the novel builds a rich collection of spaces for contemplation.

War never happens
spontaneously.
It is prepared step by step in silent secrecy,
often for decades before the first bullets fly,
including Word War I and II,
which is then foisted on society for its destruction.

Some people say, Oh if I where
King for but a day! Ah, but those who grab power go mad with it, and in
their madness they never stop. This has been the case for 3,500 years
already, and mankind is perishing by it.

Who is the powerful person in the world?
Is it not one who can heal others of their smallness in self-perception?

Other spaces in this room of the gallery:

The space of large windows
The space of divine love
The space of a finding renaissance
The space of dancing
The space of music in a loveless world
The space of the challenge of passion
The space of celebration
The space of satisfaction

(c) copyright 1989 Rolf
A. F. Witzsche applies
to all novels
of the series, The Lodging for the Rose (above)
including the free online
presentation. For (c) copyright details refer to "chapters" page.
(c) copyright 2003 applies to the web-presentation technology
- All rights are reserved, Rolf A. F. Witzsche -
You are most welcome to download pages for your personal use.